More women conductors to tackle festival gender gap

Marin Alsop, music director of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will appear in Edinburgh this yearGRANT LEIGHTON

The Edinburgh International Festival is challenging sexism in classical music by seeking to ensure that more women can wield a conductor’s baton.

Fergus Linehan, the festival director, said women’s under-representation on the orchestral podium was one of the most glaring issues in performing arts globally and he and his staff were doing everything they could to change it.

Fergus Linehan, director of the Edinburgh International Festival, says the under‑representation of women is a problem globallyTIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOP

“Why in some art forms has gender balance progressed but stagnated in others?” Mr Linehan said. “If you are selecting the major orchestra of the world, touring with their principal conductors, you’ll find gender balance is not possible. You have to think how we might address that. It is a big conversation for us.”

Righting this gender balance was a serious challenge for a festival that runs…